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"Better the devil you know": are stated preferences over health and happiness determined by how healthy and happy people are?

Author

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  • Matthew D. Adler
  • Paul Dolan
  • Amanda Henwood
  • Georgios Kavetsos

Abstract

Most people want to be both happy and healthy. But which matters most when there is a trade-off between them? This paper addresses this question by asking 4,000 members of the public in the UK and the US to make various trade-offs between being happy or being physically healthy. The results suggest that these trade-offs are determined in substantial part by the respondent's own levels of happiness and health, with happier people more likely to choose happy lives and healthier people more likely to choose healthy ones: "better the devil you know, than the devil you don't". Age also plays an important role, with older people much more likely to choose being healthy over being happy. We also test for the effect of information when a randomly chosen half of the sample are reminded that it is possible to be happy without being healthy. Information matters, but much less so than who we are. These results serve to further our understanding of the aetiology of people's preferences and have important implications for policymakers who are concerned with satisfying those preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew D. Adler & Paul Dolan & Amanda Henwood & Georgios Kavetsos, 2021. ""Better the devil you know": are stated preferences over health and happiness determined by how healthy and happy people are?," CEP Discussion Papers dp1809, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1809
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    health; subjective well-being; happiness; preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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